Industry 4.0: What It Means To Global Industry And Consumers

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but the world's top 2,500 business
leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals, and
journalists met at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world, of which, Industry 4.0 was front and center.

Industry 4.0 has been compared to the previous three industrial
revolutions of 1784, 1870 and 1969, yet digital transformation will be
unlike anything experienced before, with the likely speed, scope and
impact disrupting every industry and consumer market across the globe.

We are now at an inflection point, driven by the ubiquity of both
mobile and connected devices linking billions of people around the
world, coupled with emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as
artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive Internet of Things, Big Data, 3D
printing, nanotechnology, autonomous vehicles and energy storage
(amongst numerous others), and it is creating a new framework for
industries and consumers alike.

Sensors, hardware, data and cognitive platforms will be seamlessly
integrated along the value chain right up to, and including, the end
consumer. This effectively provides for a ‘closed-loop’ ecosystem that
connects to data centers, where millions of computer servers manage all
that information. Add in AI, and you now have (near) real time data
singularity that sends back commands to help deliver a truly customer
centric offering.

Enhancing capital and resource efficiency with ‘sell-to-produce’ and just-in-time logistics

Facilitating personalization of both product and service experiences
never seen before in the consumer space, where friction is removed and
brand ‘stickiness’ is decisive.

In summary, the Industry 4.0 opportunity is not simply about how
technology is incorporated into your business proposition, but how you
use technology to re-imagine business to take a leadership position in
customer value creation.